Ireland of the East and Bohemia of the West: Reflections of the Czech Language Revival in the Irish Press at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
Abstrakt
In the period from 1898 to 1938, numerous articles appeared in the Irish press that presented the Czech language revival as inspiration for the Irish language movement. The essay gives an account of the available sources and examines the reasons of why the Czech example was so appealing.
It also discusses the validity of the parallels made by the Irish journalists, especially as regards the weakness of Czech at the beginning of the revival. Attention is devoted to features of the Czech movement that evoked special interest among the Irish, such as the effort to introduce the language into the education system.
There were also issues that caused discomfort, most prominently the religious history of the Czech lands. The last part of the essay focuses on a lengthy article by Seán Ó Loingsigh, the only Irish-language text in the sample, and on the literary translations that were published within it.